Old and New
by eifel105
Summary: What if John had a sister femshep ? What new perspectives and conflicts could arise and how will events be handled? This will be a slight AU take on the entire Mass Effect story involving the characters you love and a few new ones. Rating may change.


**A/N: If you read the preview I posted about 10 days ago you'll notice a name change. I'm a genius and uploaded an older version. The name was supposed to be Kara not Tara. It's really small so you shouldn't notice a big difference. I'll attempt to update this on a regular basis.**

When humanity was able to successfully colonize a planet outside their solar system they proved that not only was it feasible but that it was profitable to continue the trend. Shortly after this enormous success other planets were soon inhabited including Mindoir. Mindoir had been enjoying a cool summer; the planet was naturally dryer than Earth and covered mostly with Saharan like landscapes. However there were small oases and even fertile valleys.

One such oasis was in a natural valley so the colony dug a tunnel and designated it as a recreation area. Over time it became increasingly popular with children and adults felt safe letting them play there as they worked.

John and Kara Shepard sat at the edge of the man-made lake; Kara was cooling her feet while John sat with a notepad and pencil. He alternated between tapping the edge and lazily sketching on the page.

John was 16, a tall lanky boy with dark hair and brown eyes. He had inherited his father's good looks and it was hard to find a girl in the colony who didn't have a crush on him. However, the young man spent most of his time learning ship schematics or drawing and seemed almost ignorant of his universal appeal. Kara was still a short, skinny 12 year old girl. Her time in such a small colony and being the youngest child had left her with an innocent face. Her eyes were a bright green and her hair a deep auburn.

"Where are the others?" Kara looked over her shoulder.

"We got here pretty early; we can wait a little longer."

"It's been an hour, can I go back?"

"No, if you do then I have to go with you. I'm not done with this yet, and stop moving so much."

"You're drawing me?" Kara's voice raised an octave as she jumped to her feet.

Her little feet padded on the grass as she moved to stand over her brother's drawing.

She tilted her head to the side, "Don't you have any colors?"

"Not today, I forgot them."

"Liar, you never forget…" Suddenly a loud boom vibrated through the air and the children's chest.

John and Kara looked at each other, their mouths slightly open. John stood up and grabbed his little sister's hand. He looked in the direction of their home, multiple plumes of smoke rising above it. He felt his sister starting to shake and he looked down at her. He could see her fear and confusion.

"John, what's happening?"

"We need to hide."

The children began running in the opposite direction of the colony. John remembered a cave that he used to explore before his sister was born. He stopped going there to keep her from following him so she was easier to protect. The cave wasn't too far away and they reached it quickly. John used his omni-tool to light up the entrance, leading them far enough inside to hide their presence.

Eventually Kara fell asleep from boredom, but John was unable to calm his nerves. He had no clue when they would be able to go back, or what had happened. He was also nervous about trying to pull up communications that would cause them to be discovered.

A few hours passed and Kara eventually woke up, "John why are we still here?"

John looked at his sister, unsure of himself, "We can go back, I was just waiting for you to wake up."

It was a lie but he couldn't think of what to say without scaring Kara. John took her by the hand once more, leading them out of the cave. Smoke still billowed from the colony but he couldn't see if it was safe to go back.

They walked slowly to the edge of the oasis. There was a tunnel that led through the hill and to the edge of the colony. The walk through the tunnel only took five minutes but it felt like a lifetime. The children could smell something before they reached the end. The exit was darkened by thick, black smoke and John realized the smell was burnt flesh.

He tried to hold onto Kara's hand tighter but she slipped out of his grip. John watched in fear as his little sister ran straight into the column of smoke. Shaking himself out of his shock, John ran after her.

John held his breath as he ran through the smoke, coming out on the other side. He stopped short when he almost ran over some debris right outside the entrance. He looked down to see what had been blocking his path, immediately gagging as he tried not to vomit.

The debris was a burnt carcass, whoever it was had died crawling on their stomach. The rest of the colony was smoldering ruins and more bodies. As John searched through the colony for his sister he barely registered that there were no weapons and the crates that held the colony's supplies were gone. Realizing the only place Kara would go at a time like this, John began running for their home.

The Shepard's lived just outside the colony's main residential area. The children's parents ran the communications system for the whole colony. The few times John had watched the movies on the extranet he remembered that when the enemy planned an attack they always took down the communications first. He ran faster, praying his parents were somehow safe.

As he reached the communications tower John could see another column of smoke. Panic rushed throughout his body, allowing him to go faster. As he reached the door of their home, John could see that whoever it was had managed to destroy the array. All that was left was a skeleton of the dish, small fires burning across the structure.

The door was slightly ajar; John pushed it further open. It was dark inside, only slivers of light coming from the soot blackened windows. John walked slowly and silently, adrenaline allowing him to hear the slightest of sounds. He could hear someone crying softly and gave up stealth, running toward the sounds.

Inside the next room John found his sister and what remained of his parents. He fell to his knees and crawled towards his sister. He pulled Kara into his arms and together they mourned for their home.

There was one last thing for Shepard to do and it was something he had put off for long enough. Normally he would have done this first, it was important to him. This whole Spectre business was too big to put off even for one day though, and as such he had been procrastinating.

Shepard made his way down the dry docks. He passed new and old ships and some that were only skeletons. He was searching for a commercial vessel, some Turian transport ship. He found it halfway down, its name was Vigilance.

He walked over to the foreman and introduced himself. The Turian's mandibles moved when Shepard told him who he was, his discomfort was pretty obvious. He was given the okay to walk through the ship to find the one person he was looking for.

Shepard made his way towards the engine room, his time on the Normandy kept him from getting lost and he quickly found his quarry. She stood out among everyone else, but when you're the only human in the room that was expected. She was crouched in front of a wall, working on an omni-gel converter. He had to tap on her shoulder; the construction noise was too loud for her to hear him.

She jumped a little before turning around; when she saw John she leapt to her feet and pulled him into a hug. She was wearing worker's coveralls and a face shield which made the embrace awkward and clumsy.

The woman motioned for them to move outside. Once the noise died down she excitedly asked, "What are you doing here? I thought you were on some secret mission?"

John laughed when she spoke; the face shield severely muffled her voice. She started to say something else but stopped when John tapped on the obstruction.

"Oh," she said taking the shield off, "I wear this damn thing so much I didn't even think to take it off."

With the shield removed the woman's auburn hair fell from its bun, now in a haphazard ponytail. She had petit facial features that worked well with her green eyes.

"So how long are you staying?" she asked.

"Not long, I leave tomorrow morning actually."

"So soon?"

"Well I've been here a couple days."

She gave Shepard a questioning look and so he dived into all that had happened. He started with Eden Prime and moved all the way to how he suddenly became a Spectre. The woman remained quiet throughout the story, surprising Shepard with her patience.

"Wow, that's quite a bit of excitement I can see why you didn't visit me right away," she grinned playfully at Shepard.

"That's my only regret," he flashed a smile.

"Well what are you going to do with you're one free night?"

"To be honest I don't have a free night, I have to ready everything for my mission."

"Oh, well thanks for stopping by then," she roughly smacked him on the arm and turned to walk away.

Shepard grabbed her by the arm, "Wait, I didn't come here just to update you on my life," she looked at him confused again, "I'm a Spectre which means I am in total control of my missions now. I know it's been a long time but when I saw you last you seemed really pent up. I want you out there with me; we can be a team again."

The woman shifted uncomfortably, not looking Shepard in the eye. After a few seconds of deliberation she looked like she was about to say something but they were interrupted when the Turian foreman forcibly grabbed her arm.

"Hey, break time is over! I don't care who your friends are you have a deadline human!"

John winced as the woman's hands glowed blue. She used her biotics to push the Turian into a wall and slow as death she walked towards his crumpled form on the floor. Her biotics lit up as she lifted him by his collar.

"My name is not human, it's Kara Shepard and I quit!"

Kara dropped the Turian and turned towards her brother again. She walked past him, grabbing his hand as she pulled him down towards the dry docks' exit. He couldn't help but smile, his sister never really seemed to change.


End file.
